Title: Sweet Tooth

Author: Redbiker

Standard Disclaimer: Characters belong to the great JE. I don't own anyone of them although I wish I could do "crossword puzzles" with Ranger everyday.

Author Notes: Expansion on one of the parts in my Ranger's Birthday Challenge short.

Acknowledgements: Thanks a lot to Christie (Magnificent Sin) for helping out and in the title suggestion. I would say, "You Rock, Babe!", but that is so cliched. So I'll settle for worshipping the ground you walk on and pledging loyalty to you all my natural life and beyond.

Ranger woke up as a small weight dropped on his chest followed by a larger weight on his waist. The faint smell of cake and Bulgari hit his nostrils at the same time he opened his eyes. He was instantly alert and mildly surprised at the sight of cake sitting on his chest and Stephanie Plum straddling his hips.

The next thing he noticed was her attire. She was wearing one of his tank tops which was several sizes too large for her showing a hint of cleavage. One of the sleeves was dropping off her shoulder leaving her shoulder bare. The tank top was knotted exposing quite a bit of smooth, flat stomach. She had also donned a pair of lacy burgundy colored panties and there was a small smile on her face. In spite of his unusually compromised position, Ranger was hit by the first stirrings of arousal.

"Babe."

"Ranger." Her voice held a hint of amusement.

He groaned inwardly. Stephanie was becoming progressively immune to his monosyllabic answers and silences. He suspected that she got a kick out of teasing him. Despite himself, he was looking forward to whatever plan she had cooked up today.

"Babe, why is there a cake sitting on my chest?"

"Take a look at the cake, Ranger." She said, her smile widening a fraction.

He lifted his head, careful not to disturb the cake's precarious position. It was a layered chocolate cake with thick glistening chocolate icing and minimal decorative white icing. The cake read 'Happy Birthday Ranger'.

"Babe, it's sugar." He said, his expression blank. Although his emotions were going through a Salsa dance of lust, happiness and excitement. The smell of rich chocolate and Stephanie was deliciously intoxicating. He was pleased, that she had remembered his birthday, considering the past few days she had shown no acknowledgement of it. He could only imagine what kind of delights she had in store for him after noticing her lack of attire.

Stephanie remained undaunted at his lack of emotions. Guess she was much better at interpreting them than he assumed.

"C'mon Ranger. Live a little dangerously. You play it a too safe and sheltered with guns and Third World countries." She retorted with a teasing sparkle in her eyes.

Outwardly Ranger just raised an eyebrow and let a small smile tug at the corners of his mouth. Inside he was having a having a hard time not giving in to his impulses of devouring Stephanie and as an afterthought, a little of the cake too.

"The girls and I read a magazine article which said that eating chocolate was the equivalent of having phenomenal sex. Just think of the possibilities." She said with a playful arch of her eyebrow. Her voice had that husky quality that he had heard before when she cried out his name in the heat of the moment

"Talking dirty to me, Babe?" His light tone belied the fact that his body had become rock hard. His hand moved to her bent leg and weaved light designs on her thigh.

She licked her lips and the temperature spiked in the room. "Shall I cut the cake or do you want to the honors?" She questioned, her blue eyes, a much darker hue now.

"Be my guest." His tone casual, he shifted slightly and propped himself on his free hand, watching as she set the cake on the bed and deftly cut it into pieces. His eyes were burnt black and the grip on her thigh tightened as she innocently licked the chocolate smeared knife.

"Babe." He growled.

She smiled at the obvious lust in his voice and picked up a piece of cake, eating it with her bare hands. Instead of licking her fingers, as he expected her to, she trailed them all over his chest leaving smudges of chocolate.

"Are you sure you don't want to taste this heavenly chocolate?" she emphasized each word with a lick. He moved his hands to grab her, but anticipating this move, she pinned them down on the bed.

"Shh. It's your birthday. I'm treating you." Saying so, she rubbed some chocolate on his erratic pulse and did wonderful things with her mouth. Her tongue flicking on the skin, she sucked and bit him leaving a mark. She repeated the same with all his ridiculously sensitive and erogenous zones. When her hand moved southward, his controlled restrain slipped and in one quick maneuver he had her on her back using his weight to hold her down.

"I think I'd like it better if the chocolate was on you." He ripped the shirt in his haste to remove it. Seconds later, the shirt, her panties and his silk boxers lay ignored on the carpet floor. He swiped a generous amount of the chocolate icing on his thumb and brushed it on her bottom lip, coating it completely like a chocolate lipstick. Their darkened gazes held for a moment before he kissed and sucked on it. The soft sounds she was making tested his patience even more. He swiped some more chocolate and made spiral designs on her stomach, around her navel; leaving chocolate stained fingerprints on the slope of her breast, her nipples and the underside; painting chocolate patches on the insides of her thighs, the back of her knees and the sensitive soles of her feet. His mouth alternated between kissing and biting, licking and sucking….

Many orgasms and screaming sessions later, Stephanie and Ranger lay spoon fashioned in an exhausted state of satisfaction. The intoxicating smell of Stephanie and the taste of chocolate cake in his mouth kept him feeling the after effects of an afternoon spent in bed. He placed his lips on her shoulder as he murmured to her,

"Babe, I think I'm re-evaluating my stand on cake."